Medieval History
Llandaff Cathedral was built on the site of an existing church. According to tradition, the community was established by Saint Dubricius at a ford on the River Taff and the first church was founded by Dubricius' successor, Saint Teilo. These two are regarded as the cathedral's patron saints, along with their successor Oudoceus. The original church is no longer extant, but a standing Celtic cross testifies to the presence of Christian worship at the site in pre-Norman times.
The Normans occupied Glamorgan early in the Norman Conquest, appointinng Urban their first bishop in 1107. He began construction of the cathedral in 1120 and had the remains of Saint Dyfrig transferred from Bardsey; the work was not completed until 1290. The west front dates from 1220 and contains a statue of St. Teilo. Bishop Henry de Abergavenny gave the cathedral its statutes. The Lady Chapel was built by William de Braose, bishop from 1266 to 1287. Damage was done to the church in 1400 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr; his forces also destroyed the Bishop's Palace at Llandaff. Most of the other damage was repaired, most notably by Bishop Marshall, whose reredos partly survives. The northwest tower, the one without a spire, was added by Jasper Tudor and is now named after him. He assumed the lordship of Cardiff after the accession to the throne of his nephew, King Henry VII of England.
Late medieval tombs include that of Sir David Mathew of Llandaff (1400–1484). Sir David ap Mathew was 'Grand Standard Bearer Of England', granted under King Edward IV, for saving his life at the Battle of Towton, 29 March 1461 (War Of The Roses).
During the English Civil War, the cathedral was overrun by Parliamentarian troops. The southwest tower suffered major damage in the Great Storm of 1703 and by 1720, was in a state of collapse. In 1734, work began on a new cathedral, designed by John Wood, the Elder, and nicknamed the "Italian Temple". It was used for a hundred years but never completed and only a few stones remain.
Read more about this topic: Llandaff Cathedral
Famous quotes containing the words medieval and/or history:
“Nothing in medieval dress distinguished the child from the adult. In the seventeenth century, however, the child, or at least the child of quality, whether noble or middle-class, ceased to be dressed like the grown-up. This is the essential point: henceforth he had an outfit reserved for his age group, which set him apart from the adults. These can be seen from the first glance at any of the numerous child portraits painted at the beginning of the seventeenth century.”
—Philippe Ariés (20th century)
“No one is ahead of his time, it is only that the particular variety of creating his time is the one that his contemporaries who are also creating their own time refuse to accept.... For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts. In the history of the refused in the arts and literature the rapidity of the change is always startling.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)